Mining claims in Nevada

The hardrock mining industry owns gold, silver, and other precious metals and minerals beneath an estimated 2,508,276 acres of U.S. public land in Nevada, resources worth millions of dollars a year, acquired for as little as $0.84 per acre and held in perpetuity for a yearly rental fee as low as $0.62 an acre. Under a 132-year-old law originally intended to spur development of the West, an industry dominated by a handful of multinational corporations pays no federal royalties, and leaves behind a landscape of dramatically diminished value, scarred with tunnels, pits, and toxic waste piles.

Quick facts about mining claims in Nevada

 Total number of claim-holders: 4,437

 Acres of public land claimed by the mining industry, estimated: 2,508,276 (1 of every 50 acres in Nevada)

 Dollars paid for each acre: as little as $0.84, and as little as $0.62 yearly rental fee

 Reimbursement to the federal government for gold, silver and other precious metals taken from public land: $0

 Companies owning minerals on at least 10,000 public acres: 77

 Percentage of claims held by foreign companies: 32%

 Land area ever claimed by the mining industry nationally, estimated: 79 million acres (the size of New Mexico)